In a data network, such as an Internet Protocol (IP) network, a transport protocol can be defined to provide for reliable, ordered delivery of data packets. One example of such a transport protocol is the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). Data communication using TCP over an IP network is referred to as a TCP/IP communication.
Traditionally, TCP/IP communication over a data network employs a single path for each connection between network devices. More recently, to improve communication performance (in the form of higher data throughput and improved resilience to network failure), Multipath TCP (MPTCP) has been defined to allow for TCP communication using multiple paths for each connection between network devices. However, various issues may exist with respect to MPTCP that may prevent efficient use of MPTCP in some scenarios.